Soccer Season Begins

The madness begins!

Our schedule is out of control, the boys have practice and games almost everyday of the week in April and May, on top of that baseball practice starts at the same time.  If you saw our calendar you wouldn't believe it.  Also our daughter's soccer training starts this week, I forgot to put that in the mix.

We manage, we wouldn't know what to do when it is all over.  Plus, it's fun watching them play, it gets pretty competitive at times, but they are still having fun.  That's all that counts, when that time comes when they are not having fun is when we need to have them take a step back, hopefully we won't get to that point.

You never know with Ohio weather, last spring season it rained almost every game.  This season I have a feeling will be nice and warm (fingers crossed).

Next blog I will try to have pictures, with the way the schedule is going who knows when that will be.

Angry Birds Costume Head

My kids have been crazy over Angry Birds ever since it came out.  I think they can beat every level better than I can, and they know what each bird does.  After a while though the bird noises start to annoy me, but the game is fun to play even with the sound turned off.

If you don’t know what the game is about you can read all about it at http://en.eikipedia.org/wiki/Angry_Birds. Basically, it is about these pigs that kept stealing the birds eggs and the birds became angry at them, thus the name “Angry Birds”.  The pigs are set up with all these structures around them and you sling shot an angry bird at the pigs to try and kill them, but each bird has a specific “power”, where you touch the bird and it goes really fast, or explodes.

I got so excited when I found this Angry Birds Costume at http://www.costumediscounters.com/popular-characters/angry-birds.html – Angry Birds costumes, see picture of my son Jason wearing it.  The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever.  The only problem with it is that the beak goes right over the face and it is hard to see with it on.  At first I thought if you leave it on for a while your head would start to sweat but it doesn’t.  This Angry Bird head is not only good for Halloween but it’s fun for the kids to wear it around and act out the game.  They get a kick out of it every time.

If you really like the Angry Birds game, then you will like this Angry Birds custom head.  Since the game is so popular right now everyone that comes over and sees it knows exactly what it is, and it becomes a conversation piece.  Check it out, and you’ll probably end up getting the whole collection of Angry Birds costume heads.

Indoor Soccer Games

Since I wrote about indoor soccer shoes, I thought it would be beneficial to those parents who are thinking about having their kids join an indoor soccer league.  Indoor soccer games are so good for the kids, it keeps them active during the winter months and they are not at home sitting around watching T.V. or playing video games.

Indoor soccer helps the kids learn to pass more, since indoor games are so fast paced they have to think and react quickly.  Their passing skills improve because they can’t keep  the ball for a long time or it will get taken away from them.  It makes them have to find that open pass and follow through so they can make a play.

Right now the boys are playing 8 v 8, where you can play off the walls and there are no off sides.  They think it’s really cool when you can bounce the ball off the wall and it’s like passing to yourself.  I have to warn you though, they get tired quicker in indoor.  The fields are smaller and the game is fast paced so they are running a lot.  Make sure to bring a big jug of water, and tell them to drink it, you know kids they say they forget to.

I would highly recommend indoor soccer to anyone.  It’s great exercise and they improve their foot skills for when the season starts.  The kids enjoy it too, they get to be with their friends and team mates, plus it’s indoors.  So get them out there and running.

Running in Cold Weather

My oldest son Jordan, who is 11 years old, had his first winter run club session with his middle school.  The weather was around 46°F and cloudy.  He wasn't sure what to wear for the run so he went with an Under Armour sweatshirt, running gloves and sweatpants.

He only wear a t-shirt under his sweatshirt because he gets hot quickly, and didn't feel like it was cold enough to wear an Under Armour shirt underneath.  It was the perfect amount of clothing he was comfortable and was able to run the two miles.  In the next couple of weeks they will increase the number of miles they run and of course it will probably be colder.

For those seasoned runners, do you think he should wear more or what he is wearing is fine?  Also, his hands sweat a lot, and the gloves we got him are for running and should absorb most of the sweat.  We'll see how it works.

He says it was really fun and will continue to do it.  It also helps that half of his soccer team also joined the run club, which is great because it will keep him motivated to do it, not that he wasn't before.

We'll see how it goes and will keep you up to date on his progress.

Indoor Soccer Shoes

We bought all three boys indoor soccer shoes, and each one of them picked a different brand.  We didn’t go too expensive, just right in between. The soccer indoor surface they are playing on is field turf, these types of fields are made up of synthetic grass with ground up rubber as its base.  In this case we bought turf shoes, make sure you pick the shoes accordingly.

My oldest son Jordan chose the Puma Liga Finale IT Soccer Shoes, they were about $40.  He liked them because they felt really comfortable on his feet and had all his team colors (red, black, white).  Jordan is 11 years old, his feet can fit in either narrow or regular fit shoes, so these shoes are good for kids with the same configure.

Jason, my second son who is 10 chose the Adidas Samba Turf Shoes, they were about $40.  Jason has wide feet and usually can’t fit into Nike’s, he always has better luck with Adidas brand shoes.  Plus, he must of saw this shoe somewhere because it was all he can talk about, and this was what he was getting.  For some reason though it seems like these shoes run big, we had to try on several pairs before we could find one that fit him.  So if you go out and buy them make sure to have them try it on first.

Joshua, my youngest son who is 8, chose the Nike5 Youth Bomba Turf Shoes, they were about $30.  Joshua has narrow feet and these shoes fit him perfect.  The colors are great and it looks really sharp on.  The only issue I have with these shoes are the way the shoe laces are kind of on the side of the shoe, for an eight year old trying to tie his shoes in the middle of the game would make it kind of challenging.  Other than that it, he says they feel good on his feet.

Before buying indoor soccer shoes for kids, check with the facility and see what kind of surface the fields are and to see if they are required to wear indoor soccer shoes.  Some facilities let the kids wear their regular soccer cleats or tennis shoes, that would be great so you don’t have to spend anymore money.

On my next blog, my son Jordan joined the outdoor running club at his middle school, so we bought him several things for it.  Since buying outside running gear is new for us, I want to know what some of you seasoned runners think.

How to Handle Being a Sports Mom

Everyone is always asking me "How do you do it"?  I always tell them having a very strong support system is key.  My parents help us out everyday, and we have other sports parents helping out whenever possible.

I work full-time for a large pharmaceutical company in the Regulatory Affairs department, luckily, they have been very flexible with our sports schedule.  When I have to leave early because one of the games is an hour away, I can come in early or make up my time some other day.  You need to be up front with your bosses and make sure to explain to them your situation, and never, never take advantage of the situation.  When you say you are going to make up the time, make up the time, because they may not be as flexible the next time you need to leave early.

In situations when three of the kids have a game at three different locations, we either have my dad take one of the kids or have a parent on the team that lives nearby pick him up and take him home.  Make sure to have a circle of parents, get to know them, find out if they live near you and exchage phone numbers.  Always offer to do the same for them, when they are in a bind let them know you are willing to pick up and take home their child.

When things get hectic make sure to take a step back and just take a moment for yourself, after taking a deep breathe get back to the grind.  Trust me, it is all worth it, just watching your child excel and having fun.  At the end of the game or practice when they say "That was fun" it will put a smile on your face.

Tomorrow we are going to buy soccer indoor shoes, usually the boys have been wearing their cleats, but it is time to switch to indoor soccer shoes.  Not sure which to buy, we don't want to go too expensive because they will just grow out of them, we also don't want to go too cheap we don't want them to have sore feet.

Until tomorrow, I will post pictures of which indoor soccer shoes we get and give you my opinion on them.